Advice

Before my son was born, I researched “mommy and me” groups in Winnipeg and found many outdated links; the pandemic sadly forced quite a few groups to shut down, and many haven’t seemed to recover yet. Giving up on my online search, I quickly discovered that word of mouth is the best way to find out about groups for parents in Winnipeg. And because so many other websites that list Winnipeg mom groups are still outdated, I wanted to collate as many as possible so that other new moms could find these groups much easier.

Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly more interested in relationships and why they do (or don’t) work. Along the way I’ve read a lot about dealing with those who show narcissistic tendencies and emotionally abusive behaviour, and then discovered the best way to deal with such people whenever we have to interact with them: grey rocking. So what is grey rocking, and how can it help you deal with the toxic people in your life?

We’ve all been there, right? We can’t stop thinking about them. Listen to just about any love song and you’ll hear it repeated again and again, a theme that repeats itself over and over on the radio. It might be someone we’re casually dating. It might be an ex. It might be a person we only had one date with. Whatever the scenario, we just can’t stop thinking about them. In fact, we might even feel a little bit obsessed; it might start to affect how we sleep, eat, interact with others, and live our lives. And I don’t know about you, but for me, that is not a healthy way to be, feel, or act. So, what’s actually happening in our brains when we feel this way about someone? And how can we stop an unhealthy thought process so that we can move on with our lives and focus on ourselves instead?

As a Manitoban, one of my greatest travel dreams has always been to see beluga whales in Churchill. While Churchill is often considered a polar bear destination – it’s often referred to as the “polar bear capital of the world” – I was always drawn to the idea of seeing belugas in the wild. And finally, earlier this month, my dream finally came true.

I’ve been a huge fan of Spotify for around five years now. In the last year alone, I listened to nearly 50,000 minutes of music (that’s the equivalent of about 35 days of nonstop music). I like to think I know Spotify well; I look forward to my Discover Weekly every Monday, I’m always checking our their suggestions, and I make many playlists. But somehow I have remained in the dark about audiobooks on Spotify, as I only recently discovered just how many books you can listen to with a Spotify account!

For a self-proclaimed bibliophile, I barely read any books in 2020. I would get excited about books I purchased, start them, and then stop reading after only one chapter. My mind just wasn’t in right place to read more (or do much of anything, if I’m honest).

Here’s how I managed to fall in love with reading again, and how to read more books.